New Zealand to provide higher security

New Zealand will increase security at the grounds for the rest of India's tour after a bottle-throwing incident during the second Twenty20 international in Wellington.

Play was interrupted briefly twice during the final over of New Zealand's chase when a plastic bottle thrown from the crowd landed near a fielder.

"New Zealand Cricket [NZC] is fully committed to providing a high level of security, and I have given my assurance to the Indian team that increased security will be in place for the upcoming [ODI] series," NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan told AFP. "This type of incident is unfortunate, especially in such an exciting and close game as we saw last night. Fortunately it does not occur often."

The measures to step up security will include more staff, higher visibility of personnel in potential problem areas and closer monitoring of the crowd. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian captain, said he hoped such incidents would not happen in the one-dayers.

"When you're playing at the top level you don't really want bottles to be thrown at you," Dhoni told the Herald on Sunday. "A cricket ball is hard enough to hit you and hurt you so you don't want bottles flying all over. It happens - it's like a disease and it spreads. That's one area where they need to put in more of an effort, especially from the security point of view."

The New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori played down the incident. "Noisy crowds are part of the Twenty20 game and add to the excitement of the occasion. They don't usually distract the players, we're pretty focused on what's happening in the middle. Incidents like last night are disappointing but they do happen in grounds all around the world."

New Zealand won the second Twenty20 international off the final ball to win the series 2-0. The five-ODI series kicks off on March 3 in Napier.